AMPHAR

Right. Tee just happend to fire his agent. Tee just happened to hire Chase's agent. Then by some miracle of GOD this agent is rumored to be in talks with the Bengals. But according to you the Bengals plan all along was to have him walk and this was set in stone for 2 years. WTF?

Being a winning franchise doesn't support the front office being Archaic, right? Tee Higgins only being available for 60% of snaps, firing his agent, and the rumors of current contract talks certainly disputes that this was their plan for two years, right? Ignore facts keep bitterness of the 90s handy is a much better approach.

Aside from him playing only 60% of snaps for 4 years. Firing his agent and ignoring the recent rumors of contract talks. Yes, this was telegraphed for two years, lol. Ignore everything its just the way they roll, lol.

Teams can sign Tee to a contract that's says $35 per year all day long. Good for Tee. Tag him and then trade him. Higgins would be a fool to pass that up if its reality. The Bengals would be committing roster malpractice to match. They have the medicals etc. He's played 60% of snaps the last 4 seasons and its been declining. The last time he played 70%+ was 2020. Keep in mind the majority of reports from last year's TC said it was his best camp/off season. His body failed him anyway. A fair deal for Higgins is what Joe said. Do the Eagles model. That's Devonta Smith deal. Which would pay him $33m over 2 years, $48m over 3, and $69 over 4 and simultaneously giving the Bengals an out after year 2. Higgins would be a fool to accept a fair deal for fantasy free agency fest. Thus it would be wise for the Bengals to tag AND fans would be wise to ignore any chicken little bullshit about speculation of the locker room falling apart. However, Rapien speculation and all the others is mostly agent driven hyping up the client right before FA. Good for Tee. I'd really wouldn't want to see the Bengals lock themselves into Tee past 2027.

Tee Higgins has played less than 55% of the offensive snaps the past 2 years. He's only played 60% of offensive snaps the past 4 years. Its likely Tee is missing more than half the snaps playing on the tag, long term deal, or with another team.

From SI and James Rapien. Personally this sounds like James doing a solid for the agent and Higgins. If a team wants to give Tee $30m+ per year more power to them.

Part 2 Burrow says follow the Eagles. That means Chase needs to take his top of the market deal that's going to be somewhere around 5 years and $160-170m and do what AJ Brown accepted which puts 52% of the deal in years 3,4,5, and 6 while representing cap flexibility after year 2. Chase is unlikely to sign that structure because Justin Jefferson gets 60% of his $159m total value in Years 1,2, and 3 and the Vikings get cap flexibility going into year 4. JJ's structure outlay aligns close to his yearly average. CeeDee Lamb also receives 60% of his $154m deal in years 1,2, and 3. The Cowboys also get cap flexibility going into year 4.

Burrow says follow the Eagles. That means Tee needs to sign a 5 year $90m+ deal. Like Devonta Smith. But push 50% of the value to years 4 and 5 and simultaneously have the Bengals minimal cap hit IF they choose to cut after year 3. 100% for that. Effectively makes Tee a $16-$18m a year player. IF Tee has to play on the tag. He would earn $48m over 2024/2025. That's significantly more than Smith earned. More than Pittman and $3m less than AJ. Fans can believe and lick up whatever bullshit they want. There would be no excuse for a bad season because of Tee playing on a tag.

True. But I can also guarantee some free agent signing from 2 years ago or sooner will also be cut out from underneath that contract without batting that same eye. I really don't see the value in locking yourself into Tee Higgins in 3/4 year deal at $26m given his lack of production due to his availability. If the Bengals want to do that, fine. He's a fan and QB favorite so could be worse. I believe Tee if he wants to stay with the Bengals will probably have to choose to do what Burrow and presumably Chase won't do and is push money back in the contract and shoulder more risk. Which oddly enough is what the franchise tag forces the player to do. Him playing on the tag compensates equal or more than market he just doesn't get the multi guarantee but he wouldn't get that IF he does what Joe suggests.

Him playing on the tag again gives him more than Pittman and Devonta Smith in the same time period. Again, who gives a shit? You? Fine.

I don't care what tagging Tee Higgins might do to it. Professional players and coaches can't have an adequate lockeroom culture IF the No. 2 WR only makes $48m over two years? People buy into this bullshit? Dehner doesn't have the balls to call this out? WTF? The only legit reason not to tag Tee would be if they were concerned he'd sign it right away and refuse to work with any team on a trade. That would lock the Bengals into $26m cap/cash and Tee simply isn't worth that, IMO. I say Tag at the last minute. If that happens then start taking offers.

I think they should Tag Tee. Then trade. I could give two shits about culture damage. You can get some holes filled with $26m in cap or cash. What is Tee going to do if he's tagged? Not play in the opener or 2nd game? Not catch a 1,000 yards? Pull himself from games? Secondly Joe can pour fuel all he wants. Fans can lick it up all they want. The fact remains the Eagles have gotten their key players (Hurts, AJ, and Smith) to all back load money which Joe oddly suggests. So when is Joe deferring his 2025 salary?

OK Joe. You first. Every Eagles offensive piece that's resigned has pushed money to the back end of the contract putting it at risk. Joe the Cap guru, lol. Get the fuck out of here. Talk to Chase and tell him why he should push off his money when he didn't. Joe Burrow will got $111m in the first two years vs. Hurts at $64m - $47m difference. That gap only declines $7m through 2025. AJ Brown represents cap savings to the Eagles after 2025. Putting $55m that is due after 2025 at risk. That's over 50% of the extension. Justin Jefferson of his $159m total deal he gets 60% in the first 3 years. I'm guessing Chase isn't pushing off 50% of his deal like AJ Brown. If you want to be like the Eagles then your teammates have to do what they ALL did.

Pratt is a decent LB. Has a nose for the football. His tackling fell short. His number of tackles is reflective that the Bengals D couldn't get off the field they were 6th worse in the league allowing 1088 plays. When an offense is going to snap the ball that many times there's going to be opportunity for defensive stats. But overall the back 7 in coverage the past 2 years has been bad and think that's the shortfall of Pratt playing 95% of snaps. A lot of people said he was a cut candidate, I guess he is. I'd imagine he's trying to preserve some of the near $6m he was targeted to make with a trade. Get cut and maybe its something less but he'll catch on somewhere and be a two down LB.

Good luck to Pratt made a lot of great plays. See if Lou and Colts will throw you a 5th rounder or something.

Yeah probably a lot of people will like him. Thus iffy at 17 unless there's a run on several things.

The NFL.com 3 rounder Rueter mock has big change in philosophy. Bengals go offense all 3 rounds. 1. Booker - Guard. Not against the player or the need. I don't like Bengals taking IOL in the top 50 because history shows IF they nail the pick they don't want to pay the market rate to extend IOL. Stein and Z. Of course Price was one of worst draft picks of all time taking him in favor over Lamar Jackson when all you had was Dalton. 2. Tez Johnson WR - don't like the thought of slot WR. Chase takes a decent amount of snaps in slot. I think If the bengals take WR its a boundary WR is what they'll need. A guy with Burton type skills but you know better a paying rent and not choking girlfriends. 3. Harold Fannin Jr. - TE the draft pundits are all over the place on this guy. Very productive college TE out of Bowling Green. Like the pick, could be a sleeper.

Bengals have cap now. I'm guessing its cash paid is the bigger issue. All the Eagles comparison leave out the most critical factor each of their big guns shoulder more risk there is a significant difference in the Average year and when cash is paid. The Eagles have ways to exit with minimal cap impact in most of those deals because the players accepted option bonuses. Burrow isn't structured that way the cash he actually gets is significantly more than Hurts. I'm guessing that's what Chase balked at in the summer. So if those two aren't budging on cash to get everyone signed at some point some will have to OR they have to go even younger at other spots on the roster. You never know until deals are inked and posted. Be a tough time filling out a roster if everyone takes the Burrow route and I'm assuming Chase will go the Jefferson route.

What I find perplexing is the mocking of Shemar Stewart in the first round. Owner of 1.5 sacks. His profile reminds me of what they are going through now with Myles Murphy. What I find depressing is when you look at Myles Murphy draft profile on NFL.com it has Zierlien's top available highlighted at the time Myles was putting on his cap. One edge listed has 13.5 career sacks. The other edge listed just had a 8 sack year.

Supposedly Herbert got MVP votes over Burrow from some voters. Crazy. I think Burrow threw more TDs in Nov and Dec than Herbert did all year.

You tell me what that means. AJ Brown for the Eagles signed a reported 3yr $96m deal. Simple math says $32m a year. OK. Structure of the deal shows AJ Brown COULD BE cut saving Eagles cap money in 2027. Effectively turning that into a 3yr $80m deal. $16m of the reported deal goes poof or they don't cut and he earns more and more of the reported deal each year. Jefferson deal will get him $125mil before the Vikings COULD cut. Effectively making his deal $31m a year. That's $45m more than AJ. The important question is: Would Chase ever consider such a risk in his contract like AJ Brown? I'm guessing no, since he all but admitted last summer the value was there but the structure wasn't. He'll probably be going the JJ route. More power to him. The Eagles have gotten team friendly structure's across the board for Hurts, Brown, Smith, and Barkley. The Eagles were able to push off payments to QB1 and WR1 the Bengals will probably have QB1and WR1 commanding $80m more than what the Eagles paid out early and the Bengals will have stronger guarantee language. Somehow that's spun into being cheap. Bengals probably tried to get Chase to bite on a friendly structure last year and the award is to be drug through the mud.

Burrow can voice whatever he wants. No one said otherwise. Its being spun into this great showdown and maybe it is. Or maybe its people trying to get clicks. The opposite side is Burrow will get $40m more than Hurts in the first 3 years. Hurts has major money in the form of option bonus that are due until right before each season. The Eagles also have 3 other key offensive members that took deals that put at risk a portion of the stated contractual amount as early as year 2. Those are facts and that's free info. Having a willingness to be informed doesn't put someone up the front office's ass. As for your question. I would consider an off season getting all Trey, Tee, Chase extended to at least to 2027 as A+++. I would consider no extension for Chase, Trey traded at the Garrett rumored trade comp and Tee traded a the compensatory trade comp as a F without knowing the resulting moves. I would confidently say even with the F scenario they'll be right among the AFC favorites. Its been this way since Warren Sapp. They got spurned; people freaked. Then in the aftermath they added 3/4 key players from other teams that were key in the Division Champ. They struck out with the Whitworth/Zeitler o-line rebuild. Striking out currently in the secondary rebuild post Bates. However they hit homeruns back filling once J.Joe chased free Gatorade. Hit a major home run when Lawson and Jackson III went good bye. Mixon to Chase? Even? There's others each way. I'm not predicting success or failure if the F scenario happens. The relevant history with Tobin shows there will be a plan. You can view under a lense of the 90s. Or what I think is most relevant a team that has revamped a ton of stuff and is a winning franchise. At the end of the day I think in August there will be ton of objective opinion outside the Bengal fandom that will have them right there in the AFC. How you go about surfing the ups and downs is up to you. I enjoy researching data so that's how I'm going to approach it, I guess.

Pissed off Burrow? Who fucking cares? Fact: He got $40/50 million dollars more than Jalen Hurts in the first few years of the deal. Same bunch of Bengal fans buying into Burrow's mad mantra that still applaud Palmer when in fact he walked out of a loaded team that drug Dalton to the playoffs 5 straight years. Idiot. So anybody is free to enjoy the Bengals how they see fit. No problem, go with what you like. You can easily credit the Bengals front office for not holding Burrow to the Hurts structure and getting a deal done. Again, feel how you want to feel about it, but know the facts. Any media member COULD ask a follow up question to Burrow does he regret taking max money in the first of his contract after seeing a QB that didn't in the Superbowl? Guess what? Devonta Smith also shoulders more risk in his extension. Guess what? So did AJ Brown; his 3 year $96m deal could easily become 3 year $80m. And guess what again? Saquon Barkley has a big option bonus that isn't due until the start of the season in the last year of his deal. This is what Tobin was probably talking about. You can't have everyone wanting max money. Burrow took his and the most comparable team to them is the Eagles personnel wise has 4 major offensive pieces that have given the team an out after a couple years IF they choose to do it. Credit another board for the Eagles comparison, but all this contract info is out there. Intelligent media would be making these follow up questions. At some point one of their stars is going to have shoulder risk. It appears none of them want to do it.

Joe can say what he wants. I think media and fans are taking liberties with "unhappy Joe" but whatever people like to wring their hands over a winning football team, enjoy it how you like. At the end of the day this team is going to be good enough to win a AFC. I would argue the Tanner Hudson show boating into the endzone fumble had more to do with losing to New England along with the Jones fumble. But whatever, fans seem to be happy with the chicken little theme. Go with it. If you look at the Hurts vs. Burrow deal there's big differences in the cash out lay. Was Joe going to sign that structure when he was up? Nope. Hurts had less cash up front, relies on option bonus which don't guarantee until right up to the season start. Burrow's guarantee's kick in league year start. Huge difference. Projections have Tee getting elite money average year but are silent on structure. My guess is he'll have to be agreeable to a Pittman/Smith type structure in which the total value of the deal says "Elite" but functions as option years as they get past year 2. Both Pittman/Smith deals see the teams with minimal cap implications or savings from cutting them after year 2. Portions of the $$$ in the stated amount are at risk if they don't perform as guarantees don't kick in until after they complete a year and into the league year. I'm guessing that type of structure is what Chase balked at last year. His will be more Burrow like, I'm guessing. Have no guess about Trey but he is an elite player but has age and is under contract. He's got risk if it turns ugly because a hold out doesn't help him that much. Hurts the Bengals for sure. He probably is going to push for Burrow type structure. Tee isn't elite and to make it work he's going to have to shoulder more risk. Something Burrow wasn't willing to do at his contract signing. Something Chase probably won't do either or Trey. But Hurts did. Devonta Smith did.

Willie will have to die AND the NFL get called out for leaving him off the remembrance portion of the program in order to reach HOF. 0 votes for Chase is typical of what a lot of former Bengals have had to go through. Its really unbelievable but typical. It will be interesting to see how Whitworth and Atkins are treated once up for HOF. It always seems like a Tim Krumrie or whoever would be playing at a Pro Bowl level in 1986 but not get recognized until 1988. There's always a lag. Chase will probably have to be a two time Triple Crown winner to get a vote. Allen I could see as MVP. The Bills in the preseason were supposed to take a step back and they got 2nd seed. Nice year really. The only hiccup is Allen wasn't first team all pro. Jackson was.